Pocket Gamer 20th anniversary: Back to where it all began in 2006

As you hopefully already know, Pocket Gamer is celebrating its 20th birthday this year, and, to commemorate the occasion, we're taking a look back at each year of the site's existence. All you mathematicians out there, or just anyone vaguely capable with numbers, unlike me, will know that means we're starting with 2006. 

Culturally, it was a pretty significant year all around. In music, the Arctic Monkeys burst onto the scene, Amy Winehouse released Back to Black, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers put out their second-best album, Stadium Arcadium. It also saw up-and-coming artist Taylor Swift's self-titled debut album hit shelves. I don't think she went on to do much, though. Certainly not a sold-out, all-stadium world tour that included five nights at Wembley Stadium.

It was also the year the unrecognised best band in the world, Poets of the Fall, released Carnival of Rust, though I wouldn't make that discovery for another two years. And yes, they will get a mention wherever possible through this month. I'm unapologetic in my love for that band. 

In film, there were a couple of big sequels in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Ice Age 2. But there were also soon-to-be classics as well, such as Scorsese's The Departed and Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. Oh, and lest we forget, it was also the year that Gerard Butler saw fit to boot a man down a hole after letting him know where they were. 

On the video game front, a ton of people were enamoured with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, a game that never truly struck a chord with me. To each their own, of course. I have no issues with its popularity. Anyway, outside of bland RPGs, people were getting slightly more active, too, playing with plastic instruments in their lounges following the launch of Guitar Hero II and accidentally breaking lamps and other household appliances after getting too into Wii Sports at the tail end of the year. It was certainly a different time. 

Just thinking about it all gives me a little buzz of nostalgia, and that's before we discuss what we're all here for: mobile games! Back then, we were still in the era where phones had many buttons on the front rather than the side. I'm sure that might come as a shock to some of our younger readers. And you know what else? The screen was merely a screen. Touching it did nothing besides leaving a fingerprint. I know. The Dark Ages, right?

Well, no, actually. There were actually some great games on those old phones, so let's take a trip down memory lane and remind ourselves of them, shall we?

Tower Bloxx

While you might not be able to recall too many specifics from 2006, the chances are you'll recognise Tower Bloxx. Even if you haven't played the original, many copycats have popped up over the years because the idea is so simple yet utterly compelling. It saw you creating the titular tower block by timing your button presses to drop part of the building when it swung by on a crane that must have been controlled by someone trying to get fired. The goal is to make your tower as tall as possible while keeping it neat. The tidier the foundations, the more people paid to live there. 

Tornado Mania

This one truly blew people away... Ahem. I'm so sorry. Anyway, Tornado Mania saw you decimating cities by strolling around as a sentient twister, ripping buildings from their foundations and tossing them a mile or two down the road. It used a simple control system whereby you'd change the direction the tornado spun by hitting one button. Doing so allowed you to steer it around the city, leaving a path of destruction in your wake. I feel bad for whoever had to clean that mess up. 

Stranded

Lastly, we had Stranded. As you might have inferred from the title, it saw you trapped on a desert island with little else to do besides figure out a way to escape. That translated to chatting with other folk in the same unfortunate situation as you while solving puzzles and catching critters to eat. Now, while that might sound fairly uninspired, the key to this game's success was the plot, complete with delightful twists and turns that made it impossible to put down. If you enjoyed Lost, you'd have felt right at home here.